Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 14/99) - For Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce office manager Ellie Sasseville, keeping the city's businesses informed, connected and in-touch is what her job is all about.

Sasseville has been office manager for the last two years. In that time, she has gained a solid understanding of what chamber clients are looking for, and what unique challenges they may face in the North.

"I think generally, just being in business these days is tough," Sasseville said.

"There's a lot of competition and I think every business needs to be well represented. We have an excellent staff, they're hard working and they really understand the community they work for."

Currently, there are 600 businesses listed as members of the YK Chamber of Commerce. Sasseville, who manages four employees, also organizes events like last weekend's 17th annual Spring Trade Show at the Yellowknife Community Arena. The sold-out event had 100 exhibitors peddling their wares.

"To do this job, you have to be a very multi-task type of person because we always have more than one project on the go at one time," Sasseville said.

"The trade show is an event that is important to the city and the chamber. It benefits the exhibitors, they get to network with each other and present their products to a large crowd -- and the general public benefits because they get to see what's out there."

Of the exhibitors, many were from out of town. On the membership roles of the chamber, there are several companies that don't have main offices here.

"We do have businesses from outside the community, because they operate or do business in Yellowknife. They want to know what's going on here," Sasseville said.

"We're the voice of business in Yellowknife. Generally, any of our members that have concerns we handle, from parking outside of their shop to what the best times of day to operate are. If we don't have the answer, we know where to get it."

She said even though the nature of business is cyclical, she has no doubt the Chamber of Commerce will continue to be the main corporate community representative in Yellowknife.

"The chamber has been here a long time -- as long as there's a business in Yellowknife, we'll be here to represent them," she said.